The Two-Way

2:03 pm

Sat March 1, 2014

Knife Gang Attacks China Rail Station, Killing Dozens

Picture taken by mobile phone on Saturday shows luggage scattered inside the Kunming Railway Station in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Lin YiguangXinhua/Landov

This post was updated at 9:20 p.m. ET.

A gang of 10 knife-wielding men killed at least 29 people and wounded 130 others at a train station in southern China in what the government is describing as a "violent terror attack," Xinhua News Agency reports.

Four of the assailants were also killed by police, reports the Associated Press. One suspect was arrested.

Kunming Railway Station in Yunnan province was the site of the gruesome melee. Local television station K6 reportedly said several of the attackers were shot by police and that victims were being transported to local hospitals.

Reuters quotes state television as saying on its official microblog that the incident had been deemed a "violent terror attack."

The BBC says witnesses report the men simply began attacking people at random.

The Associated Press, citing local state-run service Yunnan News, says:

"[The] men were wearing uniforms when they stormed the railway station and that gunshots were heard after police responded."

Photos circulating online (warning: graphic) show scattered luggage and bodies lying on the floor in blood.

The AP reports: "Communist Party-run People's Daily reports that China's top police official, Politburo member Meng Jianzhu, is en route to Kunming, an indication of how seriously authorities view the attack."

A dozen bodies could be seen at the Kunming No. 1 People's Hospital, where most of the 60 victims had been taken, Xinhua says.

The news agency reports that a doctor at the hospital said they were so busy treating the injured that they weren't yet sure of the exact number of casualties.